Rain on your Wedding Day

Rain on your wedding day

Rain on your Wedding Day

Hello lovely blog readers. So Monday I was able to sit and work in my garden in the sun, the perks of working from home, thinking about how lovely it was for a wedding and then today I am party planning and watching the rain come down. The British weather is so unpredictable, in May we have had 75 degree heat as well as snow! So how do you plan for the British weather, what if there is rain on your wedding day?

Wedding planning

Planning for a wedding can be very stressful, lists and lists of suppliers, swatches and samples, people trying to ‘help’. The last thing any bride or groom to be needs to be worring about is the weather. It doesn’t matter what month you get married in, in the UK we don’t always get the traditional seasons and on the morning of your wedding the weather could be doing anything. But try not to worry about the things you can’t change or control, what will be will be and the best plan of action is to have a plan!

Unexpected weather

We may talk a lot about the weather in the UK, a very British thing to do, but the weather can do unexpected things wherever, so eloping may not always be the answer to your weather problems. For example, in 2007 my Dad was spending the winter in Florida, nice for some, and my sister and I decided to join him for a couple of weeks and introduce our girls to the wonderful world of Disney. The weekend before we went he was sat in the sun on Cocoa Beach every day. We packed our suitcases full of shorts and swimsuits (not too full, we needed to save room for our Disney merchandise) and off we flew. However when we arrived winter hit. I couldn’t get over how cold it was and not one single pair of shorts saw the light of day! Of course within days of us arriving home my Dad was back out in the red hot sun on the beach sipping ice cold beer. So flitting abroad won’t necessarily save you from rain on your wedding day.

Contingencies

When you first start planning your wedding, that is the time to start thinking about the weather. If you are getting married in winter, as I did, will your guests be able to get to your venue if it snows? I didn’t have any contingency plans for the fuel strike of 2000, but that’s another story.

There are two people who will be able to help you most with contingency planning, other than your wedding planner. When looking a venues there will be a lot of things that will be going through your mind and whether there will be rain on your wedding day will need to be one of them. How will the venue handle bad weather, where will the photos be taken, is there somewhere for your guests to mingle before the wedding breakfast inside? A good venue will have all of these things covered and will be able to give you good advice so you won’t need to worry, they will have it in hand.

The other person who will be able to give advice about the weather is your photographer. Any photographer working in the UK will have had to work with bad weather. It comes with the territory. They will be able to give you advice about alternative locations if they have worked with the venue before, they will be able to give you advice about the light and the timing and make sure that you have some stunning photos no matter what the weather decides to do.

Is rain the only weather to worry about?

I don’t want to stress you out even more, but depending on where you are having your wedding and what you are planning, there may be some other weather you need to plan for. A big issue we see in the wedding industry weather wise is due to the rise of the naked cake. I love a naked cake, they look classic and simple and when they are covered in stunning flowers they make a great center piece, but a cake without anything to protect it does not love the heat and no one wants to see a melted mess!

When my daughter was little my oldest friend married on St Lucia. The setting was perfect but the weather was hot and humid. As she had what seemed like a million bridesmaids we showered and straitened our hair ready for the hair dresser in our rooms and then met up to get ready together. I walked in to her room for her to tell me off for not sorting my hair. I did start to explain that I had and then I saw myself in the mirror. Humidity is not my friend.

Whatever the weather, go with it. If the weather is nice and hot and sunny provide your guests with bottles of sun cream and sun glasses, if its cold, provide wraps, shawls and blankets. The White Company have a great range of throws and they are currently on offer. Bonus! If it rains provide beautiful big umbrellas. House of Fraser do a great range or birdcage brollies or you can hire them from places like Brolly Bucket.

Rain on your Wedding Day

And if there is rain on your wedding day, then so be it. Etsy UK also do a great range of wedding umbrellas and you could totally rock a pair of Hunters. Let them be your something blue.

Why not drop me a line and let me know how you are planning for the Great British weather.